Yongsan tteokbokki spot with summer slushie combo set: Hyeonseonine

Back at Hyeonseonine Yongsan Main Branch after a stop at I'Park Mall

One of the places I often stop by when I'm looking for good food in Yongsan is Hyeonseonine Yongsan Main Branch. This wasn't my first visit — I've been many times before — but I'd been craving tteokbokki (spicy rice cakes) for a while, so I went back again.

I'd gone that day to run an errand at I'Park Mall, but the place was packed inside and nothing on the menu really appealed to me. The food court at I'Park Mall itself can sometimes feel a bit disappointing for the price, so I often step outside to eat instead. That day, after some deliberation, I decided to just get the tteokbokki I'd been wanting and headed to the familiar Hyeonseonine.

How to walk to Hyeonseonine from Sinyongsan and Yongsan stations

Hyeonseonine Yongsan Main Branch is in a spot that's easy to reach on foot from both Sinyongsan Station (Line 4) and Yongsan Station (Line 1). From either station it's about a 10-minute walk, and there are also trunk bus routes nearby, so it's fine to visit by public transit too.

It's also not too far from I'Park Mall, so it's a good option if you're browsing there and trying to figure out where to eat near Yongsan or Sinyongsan Station.

What's in the Hyeonseonine set menus?

At Hyeonseonine you can order tteokbokki on its own, but there are also various set menus that let you enjoy several dishes together. The signature Hyeonseonine Combo Set comes with tteokbokki, mixed fried snacks, mini gimbap (seaweed rice roll), sundae (Korean blood sausage), and 3 skewers of fish cake, while the Hyeonseonine Set pairs tteokbokki with mixed fried snacks, mini gimbap, and sundae.

There's also a simpler Baby Set and Sunny Set with tteokbokki, fried snacks, sundae, and gimbap, plus an instant tteokbokki menu for two. The instant version comes with rice cakes, fish cake, and 2 eggs along with vegetable, ramen noodle, jjolmyeon noodle, and yaki-mandu add-ins, so that looked like a good option for days when I really want the full instant tteokbokki experience.

A Yongsan tteokbokki restaurant that started as a street cart in 2004

Hyeonseonine reportedly started as a street food cart back in 2004 and has continued on since. What began as a cart now runs multiple directly operated locations, making it a fairly long-running tteokbokki restaurant. Maybe that's why the place has so many longtime regulars, and why it sees plenty of takeout and delivery orders on top of dine-in customers.

I'm not someone who visited once and never went back — I've come here again and again whenever I craved tteokbokki, so this visit felt natural too. With a place you've been going to for a long time, whether the taste has changed matters a lot. But eating it this time, that same spicy-sweet flavor I remembered was still there, which personally made me happy. Hyeonseonine's tteokbokki is still just as good, I thought.

Why the combo set beats instant tteokbokki on a hot day

Honestly, what I originally wanted that day was the instant tteokbokki. Simmering it with the add-ins is really delicious, but the problem was the weather. With the days getting hotter, using a tabletop burner to cook instant tteokbokki felt like a bit much.

So instead, I ordered the Hyeonseonine Combo Set, which doesn't require a burner and can be eaten right away. Getting tteokbokki along with mixed fried snacks, mini gimbap, sundae, and fish cake skewers together meant I could enjoy a bit of everything, which I actually liked. And sure enough, the tteokbokki was still delicious. That spicy-and-sweet sauce unique to Hyeonseonine kept me reaching for more, and the fact that it tasted just like it used to made it all the more welcome.

Mini gimbap, mixed fried snacks and the self-serve fried batter crumbs

The mini gimbap that came with the set is one of my favorite items too. It's loaded with sesame oil, so the first bite hits you with a strong, savory sesame aroma. Since the tteokbokki sauce is spicy and sweet, eating the savory gimbap in between works really well together. It's great on its own, but it also goes well dipped lightly in the tteokbokki sauce. This is exactly the fun of Korean street food — eating a little bit of several dishes together.

The mixed fried snacks were also fried up nice and crispy. They're tasty plain, but they're best of all dipped in the tteokbokki sauce.

And one thing I consider a hidden gem at Hyeonseonine is the self-serve corner. You can help yourself to as much pickled radish and fried batter crumbs as you want, and I love sprinkling that fried batter crumb on top of the tteokbokki. Adding it in gives the dish a crispy texture that's different from eating it plain. The self-serve pickled radish is great too — biting into something crunchy and tangy between bites of spicy tteokbokki cleanses your palate nicely.

Hyeonseonine's new summer slushie with tteokbokki

On this visit, maybe because of the hot weather, I noticed they'd started offering a slushie. I spotted it while eating my tteokbokki and decided to try the pairing, and it was better than I expected. Taking a cold sip of slushie between bites of spicy-sweet tteokbokki cools and refreshes your mouth, which felt perfect for eating Korean street food on a hot day. Especially in weather like this, pairing the combo set with a slushie instead of the instant tteokbokki seems like a great call.

Is Hyeonseonine Yongsan Main Branch worth going back to?

Since I've already visited Hyeonseonine Yongsan Main Branch many times, this felt more like revisiting an old favorite after a while — and sure enough, it was just as good as ever. The spicy-sweet tteokbokki, the sesame-scented mini gimbap, and the crispy fried snacks and sundae together made for a satisfying lunch. I especially liked sprinkling the self-serve fried batter crumbs over the tteokbokki or dipping the fried snacks in it.

Whenever I'm craving tteokbokki near Yongsan or Sinyongsan Station, or when I'm at I'Park Mall and nothing inside appeals to me, I think I'll keep turning to Hyeonseonine. I'd also recommend it to anyone who likes long-running tteokbokki restaurants or wants to enjoy spicy-sweet tteokbokki together with fried snacks, gimbap, and sundae.